Author's Note: This story is completely fictional and did not happen. All characters and names are fictional and were made up. I do not make money from these stories. Please do not copy and plagiarize my work.
To my friend Roy, this is for you.
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Los Angeles, California
A soft breeze of the spring wind rustled down below beneath the open door of the gold taxi van as David was stepping back into the vehicle. Flip flops dangling from his feet, going along with the usual pair of khaki cargo shorts and a white T-shirt covering his torso. He had just finished filling the gas tank for his van and was about to dispose of a plastic bottle of water he had purchased at the gas station. Taking the last sip, he tossed the empty bottle into a trash can sitting next to the grey painted pump stations. David moved his feet back into the van and then shut the driver's side door as it was now time to make an exit from this little stop. The clock read 9:14 AM, as he was still working an early shift through the streets of Los Angeles.
The early to afternoon shift was a usual working day for David. Now at forty-nine years of age and working in transportation through taxi cabs to the gold vans of the Silver Screen Express company, he had the experience to say he truly knew L.A. better than most. Sometimes he missed the days of working the yellow cab cars, but it was driving the luxury vans supplied by the new company which earned him a better salary and opened the door to his own kind of adventures. Perhaps today would be a new one, he could at least consider to himself while rotating the steering wheel of his van to turn into the streets. At least the lunch hour traffic was an hour away, giving David plenty of time for cruising casually as he was now on route to meet his next fare.
Instructions had been given the previous night for a driver to meet with a woman who would call for a special trip around Burbank at a residential luxury hotel. David wasn't as familiar with hotels to know what was five stars and not, but that area of town was known for it's expensive costs. It wasn't unusual for him at this point, as the fares for a Silver Screen Express ride all came from upper class. This ride would be different, as the woman had already paid in advance and he was the chosen driver by his manager to make this trip. With fifteen minutes to navigate the streets, he wondered about his fare that he would soon meet. 9:30 was the given time and David was bound and determined to get them right on time. The seasonal change of spring offered a bit of cool weather, but in the coming hours the heat would dry it all up and make for a typical L.A. week day.
Pulling up next to the sidewalk, David scanned his eyes around the pedestrians, some making an entrance and exit through the hotel's front doors while others appeared to be going about their day. The only information he had to go on was that his passenger was female and no specific details for what he needed to identify his passenger. David simply assumed that she would make herself visible by approaching the van, at least that was the whim he had to go by from his natural instincts. Adjusting his grip over the steering wheel, David pulled up to the curb and took another glance at the pedestrians walking by in both directions. No one had really caught his eye before a girl in red hair came approaching gold van with a smile on her face waving. There was no mistaking this enthusiasm, for she had to be his passenger. David quickly rolled down the passenger side window, offering her a smile as he spoke.
"Hello Miss! Have you been waiting on a ride?"
The woman wore a white T-shirt with what appeared to be a band logo in black paint over the front and denim blue jeans down below. She adjusted her right hand over her head to block the sunlight out as she glanced back to David and smiled before nodding and replying back to him in spoken word.
"Yes! I'm the one! Just so you know, I've already paid for this ride."
David chuckled at her response.
"So you thought I was just about to ask you for a payment, huh?"
She moved her hand away from above her head and then smirked, nodding at him.
"This won't be my first ride, the last two drivers made sure I paid before I even stepped foot in the van, so I'm just telling you right now I've made a payment from over the phone."
He couldn't help but laugh again. This girl appeared to have some charisma to her, just from the following seconds of them meeting. David moved his right hand off the steering wheel only to point his thumb to the back seat.
"Well, go ahead and hop in, love. I know you've already paid, I'm your assigned driver today."
"Thank you! I've got a long trip ahead of me today."
Placing his hand back on the steering wheel, his eyes glanced up to peel into the rear-view mirror. David heard the right side door slide open and then watched her climb in, taking a moment to study her appearance. The pale white skin of her body was gorgeous with her red hair, flaring it's orange hue in a dazzling look. Her left wrist appeared to have some sort of tattoos in dark ink, but he didn't pay the bodily art much attention. Her legs appeared to be slender with the denim jeans hugging every curve. A nice girl, he could only guess was in her mid-twenties. For her being a special passenger for today's work, at least David had something beautiful to glance back at from within his taxi van. Once she slammed the door shut and adjusted herself to have a seat in the right side of the black leather seats, David spoke up.
"So where to? You said it's a long trip, so enlighten me on where I need to take you."
"Right, I want you to take me to Santa Monica."
A surprising answer, David glanced back up into his rear view mirror as he replied.
"Where at in Santa Monica? That's going to be a long ride."
"Ummmmmm, you know the record store around there called Blowout?"
David shook his head.
"No, but I can find it."
Glancing down, there was a digital touch screen just below the radio controls with a GPS tracking device. Before shifting gears and moving onto the streets, David pulled the keypad and quickly tapped his fingertips over the screen to find the destination by name. It looked to be a drive extending past thirty minutes.
"Alright babe, I've got it on the GPS system here. This is going to be a long ride."
"I know! I've paid extra for that!"
She giggled and offered a smile which David could see as he glanced upward into the rear view mirror. As he adjusted his right hand over the gear shift stick, it suddenly had dawned on him that he had yet to learn of his passenger's name.
"I forgot to ask you of your name, babe? I'm David by the way."
From the rear-view mirror above, he watched her brush her hair aside from her face upon smiling and replying.
"Hayley, or my full name which is Hayley Williams. I guess you don't recognize me from anywhere, huh?"
"Nah, if I recognized you I think I would've told you."
Again, she cracked up laughing at him as he was busy navigating the streets. This was a perfect opportunity for David to indulge in conversation with his beautiful passenger, seeing as she wasn't shy around him in the least bit. The drive would be a long distance, so it wouldn't hurt to have a back and forth exchange of words between them. David gripped the steering wheel upon stopping at a red light and studying her once more from the rear view mirror above. The thought of how difficult or simple she could be from his tricks of seduction was always crossing his mind, but for now, he only wanted to learn more about Hayley Williams.
